The travel club for hotel lovers

Tom Aikens

Michelin-starred chef

Foodie or not, it would have been hard to have missed this star chef – at least if you ever watch television in the UK. Achieving more in his first few years than many chefs aspire to in a lifetime, Aikens has come along way since starting as a commis chef with Michelin-starred David Cavalier at Cavalier’s. Aged 21, during his tenure with Pierre Koffman at La Tante Claire, the restaurant earned its third star. In 1993, Aikens was appointed sous chef at the two-star Pied à Terre in Charlotte Street, then the next year Aikens was hightailing it to France to work with Joël Robuchon and Gérard Boyer at Les Crayères in Reims. By 26 he had stepped into the role of head chef at Pied à Terre, becoming the youngest British chef to achieve two Michelin stars. In 2003, Tom Aikens Restaurant opened in Chelsea, Tom’s Kitchen was born in November 2007, and more acclaimed restaurants followed, along with a few best-selling cookbooks too, naturally.